Pubdate: Tue, 27 Nov 2012
Source: Langley Advance (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.langleyadvance.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1248
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n586/a06.html
Author: Robert Sharpe

NO EXCUSE LEFT FOR OTTAWA'S POLICY

Dear Editor,

Now that Washington State and Colorado have legalized marijuana [Pot 
laws not about all or nothing, Nov. 15 Painful Truth, Langley 
Advance], Ottawa can no longer claim Canada must uphold marijuana 
prohibition to maintain good U.S. relations.

In 2002, the Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs 
concluded that marijuana is relatively benign, prohibition 
contributes to organized crime, and law enforcement efforts have 
little impact on patterns of use.

Consider the experience of the former "land of the free" and current 
world leader in per capita incarceration. The U.S. has double the 
rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available.

The only winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and 
shameless tough-on-drugs politicians who deliberately confuse the 
drug war's tremendous collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant.

Robert Sharpe,

Common Sense for Drug Policy, U.S.A.
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